Why these families are willing to risk deportation for college financial aid

While witnessing a rise in deportations across the country, college-bound high school seniors with immigrant parents in California had to decide this spring whether to submit a federal financial aid application. Their fear: The federal government will use sensitive personal information from the application to identify people in the country who lack legal status. An agreement between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share tax information is already in motion. 

However, the latest data available from the California Student Aid Commission shows that the number of high school senior applicants from mixed-status families has not decreased as much as some financial aid advocates feared it would. In fact, the number of high school senior applicants with at least one parent lacking legal status has nearly rebounded to the 2023 number after the revised financial aid form last year kept them from being able to apply without parental Social Security numbers for several months. 

Despite the risk of exposing their parents to a deportation dragnet, 35% more college-bound high school seniors from mixed-status families have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid as of the May 2 deadline compared to applications submitted by the same date last year. However, 9% fewer high school seniors from mixed-status families submitted their FAFSA compared to the same date two years ago. Community college students are notably excluded from these numbers as they have a separate deadline of Sept. 2.

Students who choose not to submit a financial aid application lose potential federal aid through grants, work study and loans. The federal deadline is not until the end of the academic year for which a student applies. But California sets the deadline for state aid in the spring and late summer, depending on the type of college, so most high school seniors wanting to attend college in-state file the FAFSA by the state aid deadline.

California officials gave students a one-month extension from April 2 to May 2 to submit the FAFSA after the U.S. Department of Education opened the application in December 2024 rather than the usual launch of October. 

The California Student Aid Commission administers financial aid programs for students in California and helps organizations that counsel students on their financial aid applications. The commission’s spokesperson, Shelveen Ratnam, said the federal student aid  application should have been a little easier for mixed-status families this time around. 

“Now the concern this year has kind of been the federal landscape, the federal administration, given… all the increased immigration enforcement (and) the unprecedented data sharing between federal agencies,” Ratnam said.

“When we submitted the application together, they said to me, ‘This is for you Janet. This is for the future generations and I hope we stay together.’”

Janet, graduate of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles County

In the federal financial aid application, parents must submit personal details such as their Social Security numbers. If parents do not have them due to their legal status, they need to click a box that says “I do not have a SSN.” Although Ratnam and fellow staff at the commission are not currently aware of any efforts by immigration enforcement to access the personal information of FAFSA applicants, some students said they are concerned about the possibility that the personal details of their parents might be used to deport them.

Students and parents face a tough choice

College-bound high school seniors in California who spoke to CalMatters for this story say the importance of going to college outweighs fears of their parents being deported.  

A graduate of Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles County, Janet said she and her parents were antsy as they filled out the application together for the first time. Due to her family’s mixed legal status, she asked to go by her first name only. Janet recalls the concern from one of her parents who lacks permanent legal status that by submitting the application to the federal government they would be exposing themselves to immigration enforcement. However, her parents decided it was more important that their daughter receive financial aid for college.

“When we submitted the application together, they said to me, ‘This is for you Janet. This is for the future generations and I hope we stay together,’” she said.

Alondra, a graduate of University High School Charter in Los Angeles, says she feels stress because most of her family does not have permanent legal status. Alondra also requested to use only her first name to protect her family from potential deportation. Alondra said it surprised her family when she informed them of the possible risk if they apply. However, a counselor in the One Voice Scholars Program, which works with low-income, first-generation students, pointed out that Alondra’s parents already share their personal information with the federal government when they file taxes. 

“So, it’s like we already know that my parents are already in the system, so we just kind of hope that me submitting my FAFSA isn’t adding on to that risk,” Alondra said.

Some students from mixed-status families who have older siblings may already have shared their data with the U.S. Department of Education, according to Alison De Lucca, executive director of the Southern California College Access Network. She said each family has to determine the pros and cons of the implications when applying for financial aid. Mixed-status families are also likely sharing their data with the state and federal government when they file taxes, get a driver’s license, or adjust their immigration status.

Angela, a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts who also requested to use her first name only due to her family’s mixed legal status, said she started grappling with the decision of whether to apply for federal student aid during her sophomore year. At the time, her parents were still in the process of obtaining their citizenship and did not know if they would receive it in time for Angela’s financial aid application. 

“They just really wanted me to be able to go (to college) for as cheap as possible,” Angela said.

“You worry for your friends that might not be able to do it, might not be able to get that future that they really dream of.”

Angela, graduate of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts

Angela’s parents were able to obtain citizenship recently. However, she feels some of her college options are “off the table,” including Cornell University, which had offered her a scholarship that would have funded her first year at the university. Angela grew concerned about attending universities in New York after hearing reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement “targeting” students that led pro-Palestinian protests, such as Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia and Momodou Taal at Cornell.

She also feels guilt as some of her extended family and friends who are applying for financial aid do not have parents with permanent legal status in the U.S.

“I’m happy for myself but that feels selfish,” Angela said. “I know that I can help my family in that sense, but it’s really upsetting. You worry for your friends that might not be able to do it, might not be able to get that future that they really dream of.”

Federal financial aid application faces new problems

Following President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, the department’s spokesperson James Bergeron wrote in a letter on March 14 that those working directly with the federal financial aid application or student loan servicing were not affected by the staff reductions. 

Although Bergeron’s letter addressed the department’s staff reduction, De Lucca said that she and fellow staff at the College Access Network are concerned that layoffs at the department could lead to less support available for students and families when they call for assistance with their financial aid applications.

“There’s less staff at the Department of Education to consult with community-based organizations like SoCal CAN (College Access Network) and our members,” De Lucca said. “So for us, it’s been more difficult to reach folks at the department when we do have questions.”

Inside Higher Ed reported in March that the staff reductions in the Office of Federal Student Aid would impact the staff’s ability to fix technical issues with the form, which were prevalent last year. Additional cuts were made to the FAFSA call center and training for financial aid practitioners, according to the same story by Inside Higher Ed. 

A federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order that led to the massive staff reduction at the education department in May. However, on July 14 the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the president’s plan to continue.

The education department’s press office did not respond to repeated requests from CalMatters about the number of staff cuts at the Office of Federal Student Aid.

During last year’s updated FAFSA rollout, students faced technical issues with the application’s overhaul, prompting a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Revisions to the application included reducing the number of questions by pulling students’ and parents’ financial information straight from the IRS. If parents were missing Social Security numbers then students could not submit a financial aid application. 

Students had to wait until March 12, 2024 for the glitch on the website to be fixed before completing their submission, still ahead of the state’s extended deadline of May 2. The issues with the application last year resulted in 9,642 fewer federal financial aid applications submitted by May 2 from students in mixed-status families in the state compared to this year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.

Sacramento State senior Fernanda Arteaga spent four months trying to submit a FAFSA last year due to her parents not having Social Security numbers.   

Arteaga tried calling the office about six times to ensure that her application had the necessary information to be submitted, but each time she had to wait for assistance, leading her to hang up and try again at another time. Finally, Arteaga was able to reach a staff member and submit her application. Experts from the federal Governmental Accountability Office testified before Congress in the fall of 2024 that 74% of the calls to the department’s call center went unanswered due to understaffing.  

“I would mainly say that I just overcame those obstacles by just constantly checking in with the (Office of Federal Student Aid) and making sure that everything I could do on my end was done, and that everything I had was there,” Arteaga said. She finally received her financial aid a month into the fall 2024 semester and was granted an extension to pay for her tuition by the university while the funds were disbursed. 

With this year’s federal financial aid application, Arteaga did not encounter any website glitches, and had an easier process applying. Instead, Arteaga was concerned about the implications of applying for federal student aid given the political climate. Arteaga and her parents accepted the risk of immigration enforcement accessing their personal information through the application and ultimately applied.  

“Obviously it is a federal organization,” Arteaga said. “So we were concerned that … our information wasn’t going to be protected. But my parents, since we’ve already done applications … in the past, they were like just do it. We really need the money, and we want to get you to finish your last year in college.” 

California offers alternative financial aid application

Students who lack permanent legal status themselves are not eligible for federal financial aid. However, since 2013, the state has administered the California Dream Act Application, also known as CADAA, for those students to apply for state and campus-based aid. When students from mixed-status families were unable to submit a federal application in 2024, California opened its financial aid application temporarily to those students so they could at least apply for state aid. 

The California Student Aid Commission again opened the Dream Act application to students from mixed-status families this year to provide them a state-protected way to apply for financial aid. California state law protects students and families by not sharing their personal information with immigration officials. 

Now a state senator is proposing to open the financial aid application permanently to students from mixed-status families. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena, proposed Senate Bill 323, which would require the California Student Aid Commission to ensure that the state application can be used by “any student eligible for state financial aid programs,” according to the bill text. 

“It is crucial we provide California college bound students with a stable, safe, and alternative state-based financial aid application to feel safe in applying for financial aid and choosing to go to college,” Pérez said on the Senate floor June 2. 

Emmanuel Rodriguez, senior director of policy and advocacy at The Institute for College Access and Success, said California’s Dream Act application adds a level of security for applicants as the information they receive is only shared with the campuses listed on a student’s application to determine whether the student is eligible for financial aid. 

Financial aid advocates say that each family applying for financial aid must make a decision based on their specific situation and whether they should submit the federal application, the state Dream Act application, or both. 

This story was updated to clarify California’s deadline for applying for financial aid.

Samantha Yee contributed to this story. Mercy Sosa is a fellow with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.